


Mistakes Can Be Made But They Can Also Be Fixed

by Brigzi16



Category: Coronation Street
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-11-28 16:55:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20969900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brigzi16/pseuds/Brigzi16
Summary: Set a month after Sophie's departure for Cambodia; she and Kate now find themselves in Phuket, Thailand with Sophie struggling without Paula by herself. Back on the Cobbles Paula's regret about letting Sophie go is has boiled over and Sally moves to intervene. Will Paula take her friend's advice or will she continue on the downward spiral she finds herself on?





	Mistakes Can Be Made But They Can Also Be Fixed

**Author's Note:**

> With Saula's future so open whose to say whether or not tonight was the end to what has been a rollercoaster of a romance. Yes there is a lot that Corrie hasn't done and probably should have but what little they did do has made Saula into an internationally followed ship that has brought people together and created a community that has so little representation on mainstream television.  
Stirling and Brooke have done an amazing job and I wish Brooke every happiness with her impending leap into motherhood. I hope she does return to the Cobbles and that Sophie and Paula find each other again.

It had been nearly a month since Paula had made the decision to let Sophie go travelling. It had been one of the hardest decisions she had ever made and one of the few she regretted. She knew what she did had been for the best but it didn’t hurt any less and now she found herself wishing she had booked that plane ticket because she wanted to be with Sophie, she wanted to be with her true love.

“You okay Paula?” Sally slides into the booth opposite her friend and senses her friend’s unhappiness. Sally knew that Paula only wanted what was best for Sophie and knew how difficult the decision had been for her friend. 

“Not really” Paula downs the straight bourbon she had been nursing, the amber liquid burning as it travels down her throat. Johnny comes straight over and puts a double shot down in front of the lawyer, taking the empty glass away. “Told him to keep them coming” Paula downs the double shot of bourbon that had just been placed in front of her, revelling in the burn. Sally grows concerned for her friend and angry at herself for not realising how much Paula was struggling with her choice. 

“Is this about Sophie?” Paula swallows the lump in her throat and bites back the tears. She always became overly emotional when she had been drinking straight bourbon. The tears in her eyes obviously told Sally the entire story because her friend was looking at her with such compassion. 

“I thought I was doing what was best for her; I thought I was giving her what she wanted” Paula takes a deep breath and wipes away the tears that had begun to fall from her eyes. She keeps reliving the moment she had blowing her relationship with Sophie out of the water. Why hadn’t she just bitten the bullet and gone with her? Made herself and Sophie happy? “You didn’t see her face when I told her I wasn’t going with her; I broke her heart and my own” 

“I never did ask you why you changed your mind” 

“I felt as if I was holding her back, that I was stopping her from following her dream” Sally sighs and reaches out putting a hand on Paula’s forearm. She looks at her broken friend, a seriousness filling her eyes. She had told Sophie that Paula had done her a favour but she didn’t know if that was the case now especially not for Paula. “I just wanted her to be happy” 

“And you thought that she could find that without you?” Paula closes her eyes and pulls her arm away from Sally’s attempt at comforting her. “After Maddie died I thought Sophie would never find someone that could pull her out of the dark place she had gone to. Kate used her and that broke her even more but then you came into her life and changed all of that” Paula knows how Sophie saw herself when they had first met, how closed off and low on confidence the young Webster had been and it had near broke her heart because she could only see all the good things about Sophie and what she could become given the right guidance; a guidance she had tried and failed to provide. “I have never seen her love someone like she loves you, not even Sian and Maddie, but now I know why you did what you did and I know how much it hurt you” 

“When she said I didn’t want her… god Sally it felt like an arrow had pierced my heart; she’s all I want and I gave her all the crap about being in differing stages of our lives knowing it was rubbish yet I still let her go” Johnny puts another bourbon down in front of Paula and the lawyer knocks it back as soon as the glass hit the table. Sally looks at the man, silently telling him not to get her another one; a message he receives and understands. Sally looks at her friend and takes a deep breath. 

“You can change all of that. Go after her” 

“Sally…”

“Go to her Paula” Sally pulls out her phone and pulls up a message she had gotten from Sophie a day or two ago. She grabs the napkin that was laying on the table and jots down where Sophie and Kate were staying in Phuket in Thailand passing it over to Paula. “Stop being so bloody selfless and be happy” With that Sally was gone leaving Paula with a choice to make. She looks at the address on the table knowing she had a choice to make. If she was being honest with herself she was unhappy and lonely. She missed Sophie so much and seeing all of the photos that Sophie and Kate had been posting had made her even more so knowing she could have been with Sophie the entire time. Was there really a choice be made? 

Two days later  
Phuket, Thailand, Patong Bay

Kate and Sophie were relaxing on the beach not far from their hotel, CC’s Hideaway. They had decided that today would be a chill day, a break from exploring the area and hitting the night clubs. Cambodia had been an experience but Thailand was a different animal altogether. The people were so friendly and the country was absolutely beautiful and so LGBT friendly. 

“So I was thinking tomorrow we could decide were we want to go next? I was thinking Bali” Kate says turning her head to look at her travelling companion. She knew that Sophie still wished Paula had come with her; she knew how much her friend missed the lawyer. 

“Sounds good…” Kate senses Sophie is distracted and sits up. She looks down at her friend and sighs softly. She knew her friend would never stop missing Paula; she had never seen Sophie so in love and she knew what it meant to miss the person you love; she missed Rana every hour of every day. 

“Happy birthday by the way” 

“Huh… oh thanks” Sophie says softly looking at Kate, a soft smile pulling at her lips. “My Mum has made me promise I’d video call her later on and my dad has sent a message from Turkey” She was pleased that her dad had made the effort to take Jack over to Turkey to get to know his Auntie Debbie and that he was making the most of the money that he had inherited. 

“Nothing from Paula?” The smile that had been tugging at Sophie’s face disappears and is replaced with a sadness. Kate closes her eyes and reaches out to comfort her friend. How could Paula forget that it was Sophie’s birthday? Didn’t she realise how much Sophie missed her? Or had the lawyer decided that long distance wasn’t working and moved on? “I’m sorry” Kate pulls her eyes away from Sophie, a loud smile breaking out across her face when she sees someone she had never expected to see walking on the sands of the beach coming towards them. “I know you aren’t going to get any presents this year but if you were to get one what would you want it to be?” 

“Paula. Here with me” Kate smiles and nods her head, her eyes never leaving the figure that had now stopped dead about twenty feet from her and Sophie “But that’s not going to happen so…” Kate purses her lips and takes a deep breath before getting up off her towel. Sophie sits up and furrows her brow, confused as to why Kate was on her feet “Where you going?” 

“Happy birthday Sophie” Kate says softly, jutting out her chin to direct her friend’s eyes away from her and to the person standing stock still on the sand. Sophie turns her head and scrambles to her feet and rushes across the sands straight into the arms of Paula. Kate swallows the lump in her throat and gathers her things. She knew that the couple needed space to talk so she heads back to the hotel. 

“Soph…” Paula holds Sophie as she close as she can, never wanting to let the young woman go again. “Oh Sophie” There were tears rolling down both of their faces but this time they were happy tears, very happy tears. After a few more moments Sophie pulls away from the embrace but keeps her arms locked around Paula. She couldn’t believe Paula was here, she had come to be with her. 

“What-How?” Paula chuckles wiping a stray tear away from her face. She had Sophie back in her arms and she never wanted to let her go again. 

“Your mum; she talked some sense into me” Sophie couldn’t believe it; she had never expected her mum to be the catalyst for she and Paula to reunite but Sally Metcalfe was full of surprises at times. “I’m so sorry Sophie” Paula rests her forehead against Sophie’s; the words barely loud enough for the young woman to hear. “You have every right to hate me given the way we parted” Sophie shakes her head and squeezes Paula, telling the older woman that there was nothing to forgive. There never had been. Yes Paula could have been more tactful in getting Sophie to realise that travelling was what she truly wanted but the young woman knows why she did it then way she did despite the hurt it caused. 

“I told you before I got in that taxi that I loved you and that hasn’t changed. God Paula all I’ve done since I left is miss you” Sophie presses her lips to Paula’s finally getting the kiss she had craved and needed from the moment she had seen Paula standing thirty metres from her. “I’ve missed you so much” 

“And I’ve missed you” Paula kisses Sophie again desperately telling the young woman just how much she had been missed. 

“How long are you here?” Paula smiles and cups Sophie’s face between her hands. She takes a deep breath before answering, knowing that what time she has with Sophie will never be enough, but it would have to do until she got more time off from the firm. 

“Three months” The way Sophie’s face lights up at the news makes Paula’s heart skip a couple of beats. She knew she wanted to lose this again. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing Sophie, of not being with her. “Jacqui has taken up from the offer from the partners, so she’s taken up my case load which is all of five cases” Sophie kisses Paula passionately, sparking the deeper desires of herself and her partner. Paula breaks the kiss, needing to catch her breath after such a passion filled kiss. “I know it’s only three months…”

“But it gives us time to talk and to work out where we go from here” Sophie knows they need to talk in order to figure out where their future was headed. She didn’t want to get her hopes up about being able to make it work long distance no matter how much she desperately wanted it to. 

“If you think I am going to let you go again you couldn’t be more wrong” The strength of conviction in Paula’s tone shook Sophie; Paula wanted them to work as much as she did. She had been so wrong about Paula and deeply regrets the words that had passed between them the day she left for Cambodia. She knew Paula wasn’t the person she had accused her to be and wishes she had only listened instead of storming out like a petulant child. “Can we sit down?” Sophie nods and pulls away from the embrace, taking Paula’s hand in her own. She guides them to where she and Kate had been sprawled out not long ago and the pair take a seat on the sand. Paula looks down at their conjoined hands and takes a deep, nerve steadying breath. Sophie knows just to listen this time. “I made a mistake, I hold my hands up and admit that I shouldn’t have let you go, but I did it for the right reasons; yes I should have been more tactful, less impulsive but I couldn’t bare the thought of me being the reason for you holding back, for being unhappy. I admit that I did, perhaps, muscle you into going back to college not realising, until it was too late, that you didn’t want to be there; that you hated it” Paula looks out at the clear blue sea and smiles at the beauty of the place. She had already missed so much she didn’t want to miss anything else. “When your dad agreed to take the money and split it between himself, you, Jack and Rosie I knew that you’d want to be sensible with it, keep for the future despite the unhappiness you were feeling so I thought the only way I could get you to broaden your horizons was to suggest we go travelling. I truly wanted to come with you, I really did but realised this was something you needed to do on your own” Paula squeezes Sophie’s hand and brings it up to her lips pressing a kiss to the back of her partner’s hand. She smiles softly up through her eyelashes and drops their conjoined hands in her lap “I’ve been a miserable bugger ever since. I’m pretty sure I’ve drank the Rovers dry of bourbon truth be told.” 

“When I arrived in Cambodia and met up with Kate all I wanted to do was get back on a plane to Manchester and come home but she got me to change my mind, not that I’ve been much company. She could tell how much I missed you and how much I wanted you to be with me” Paula swallows the lump in her throat and just listens to Sophie. It was time she just listened. “Every day she would take me to this amazing places but all I thought about was how much I wanted you there with me to experience it all” Paula knows she had missed so much by all the photos on Kate and Sophies’ Instagram accounts and how much she had wished that she had been part of it. “My mum told me about how much you were drinking and I got really worried about you; I messaged you but got no response, I thought you were angry with me” Paula couldn’t believe that Sophie had messaged her; in one of her drunken states she had managed to break the screen on her phone and get it waterlogged so she hadn’t had her phone or her number for a couple of weeks. She’d be having words with Sally when she returned home though; she had no right to tell Sophie about the drinking. 

“No! No Sophie I could never be angry with you; I broke my phone and have just recently managed to get it fixed but I lost all my photos and messages, I didn’t know you’d messaged me or I would have been in contact much sooner” Paula pulls Sophie into an embrace and kisses the young woman’s hair. She had wanted to message Sophie so many times but hadn’t been able to find the words. “I lost my favourite picture of you, I was devastated” 

“Didn’t you back your phone up?”

“I tried after I had gotten the water out of it but by that point it was too late and I’ve had an issue with iCloud of late so…” Sophie takes out her own phone and sees if she had the photo Paula was referring to. She knew which one it was. She smiles and shows Paula the picture in question. It had been a candid shot that Paula had taken during a date in town. Sophie had no idea that her partner had taken it until she sent it via picture message on messenger. “Beautiful…” Paula smiles at the picture before looking back at Sophie, gently moving a stray strand of hair away from the young woman’s eyes. “But not as beautiful as you are now basked in the Thai sun with an amazing tan that I can only dream of”

“After these three months are up do you plan on meeting up with Kate and I again?” Sophie needs to know if Paula was serious about trying to make them work because she didn’t want to have heart broken again despite her deep love and affection for the older woman, she couldn’t go through any more hurt. 

“That’s the idea” Paula knows it may not be as regular as either of them wanted but she hopes it would be enough to keep them going strong and get them through this period of being in a long-distance relationship. “I was thinking Valentine’s Day so it would be every three months until you were ready to come home” Sophie looks up at Paula and finds herself lost in those deep brown pools that she had fallen so deeply in love with. “At which point I will be waiting outside the airport to pick you up and bring you home to Coronation Street. I promise” 

“I love you Paula”

“And I love you Sophie. Oh and happy birthday” Sophie chuckles and kisses Paula lovingly. The next three months would be an adventure as well as a test of how well the couple could cope knowing that they’d have to part again. They could only get stronger and both Paula and Sophie knew that so they knew to fight for their relationship because the best things are always worth fighting for.


End file.
